Shopping on shore and/or on ship

Sailing with Mickey and Minnie

This is my attempt to return the favor of sharing photos and tips on the newest DCL ship. I learned so much from those that posted of their Dream vacations last year, I wanted to repay with photos for anyone that might be thinking or planning a Fantasy trip and for anyone interested in Concierge and the Cabanas on Castaway Cay.

I took a lot of photos and am rusty at posting photos so please forgive me as I remember and figure out what I'm doing!

Let's start with boarding the ship on the 19th of May:

I boarded with my sister (31) and my parents (58 and 62). My sister and I were booked in a Deluxe Family Concierge (12518) and my parents were in the one bedroom suite (12520).

This long awaited and much needed vacation was my parents' first DCL vacation and my sister and my second.

On the Magic last year, I have to admit, I was very apprehensive about dinning with strangers and being stuck with them night after night. And our first dinner was as horrible as I had feared. But long story short, before long we became likely life-long friends with 4 of the six other people at our table. We even agreed to travel again with the couple from Scotland (that's where the idea for the Eastern Fantasy came from). And only a few months before the cruise, I heard from the two sisters that they were going to come on the Fantasy too!

So to anyone, like me, afraid of dinning with strangers - Disney has not only amazing special effects technology and expertise in queue management, Disney has some crazy means of pairing people with similar people. Though we did have a "glitch" with one psycho couple at our table, Disney had paired us with people of similar age and even another pair of sisters traveling together too.

So this vacation was a reunion of table mates from the Magic, plus our parents, and another female friend of the Scottish couple - nine people total. And since I'm really good at keeping secrets, especially when it means surprising my sister, no one but me knew the sisters from Buffalo were also coming. That first night at dinner, two extra seats at the table made my sister so nervous. Who have they put at our table? How will we get along when they don't know us? What if they are Japanese tourists who don't speak English? What if they are more Scottish tourists who don't speak English? Sis kept asking the servers if those were just empty seats until finally the sisters came and then the hugs commenced.

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We boarded just before 11:30 and everyone was heading towards the center, midship elevators. Already a short line had formed for the elevators. I remembered my DISboard research and thought why not walk back to the Aft elevators and go up to Cabanas. The cast member said Cabanas opened at 11:30. We figured by the time we got there it would be fine.

So, if you want to avoid a line as soon as you board, maybe try walking through the lobby - stopping for photos by the statue of Minnie, etc. Walk down the hallway past Royal Court and when you get to this in the floor, turn left and you'll be at the Aft elevators.

When we got to Cabanas, we picked a table and put our stuff down to enjoy the view both inside and out.

While waiting for the food stations to open, we grabbed fountain drinks and took turns finding the bathroom. I recommend going up one floor to the bathrooms in Deck 13 Aft to the bathroom outside Remy and Palo. Posh pees for everyone!

The food stations opened right away and this is a sample of what you can find. I promise I have better food pictures, think my hunger came over me... stone crabs...

Looking forward to this report! We will be sailing on an Eastern Fantasy cruise next year!

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I'm so jealous! I had such a great time. Does your cruise go to Puerto Rico instead of St.Maarten? I really wish our itineray included PR. Actually I think DCL should have an itinerary that just goes to Castaway Cay every other day for 7 days! The Fantasy is incredible. So beautiful. I will post more photos for you now...

The gift on the bed is from Disney Fairytale Weddings - but isn't this room incredible?

There is an ice bucket they kept filled with fresh ice, two champagne glasses, two wine glasses, two tumblers, the standard four glasses, and concierge napkins to the right of the desk. Beautiful silver leaf frames on the art work. The whole suite is really richly decorated.

In the walkin closet - which you can walk in - there are two robes (these are much thicker than what is at the spa and almost too heavy for the tropics) and two pairs of slippers. There is also a safe, a full-lenght mirror, and a folding valet (misc. holder thing).
As you can see there are plenty of hangers and there was plenty of room for my dad's golf clubs as well.

There are also two closets for shorter length hanging and drawers beneath both.

A lovely vanity sits to the right of the bed and on the other side of the master bathroom. The vanity had nice lighting, small drawers, and the back wall was this crazy materal that sparkled like sequins.

The bath products in the concierge are the same as all the staterooms with the addition of the Sea Salt Scrub and the After Sun lotion.

This is the amazing jacuzzi bathtub in the master bath.
It has several settings and even different colored lights under the water!

Dual sinks in the masterbathroom and during the cruise the cabin stewards would leave plush bathmats on the floor under each sink. On the counter is a hair dryer in a cloth bag, a tissue box, a container of cotton swabs, and a toothbrush holder - how nice! Between each sink is four drawers and on either side of the massive mirror are several small shevles.

The bathroom also had a shower and a toilet with full length door. The masterbathroom is bright and roomy. There is also a tv behind the mirror so you can watch your favorite tv or movie from the jacuzzi bath!

This shower has both the handheld shower head with four adjustable settings and a rain shower above your head. No matter how tall you are you will have a comfortable shower - no back bends! The shower had several shevles and already stocked with the shampoo, conditioner, and salt scrub body wash.

I loved the way they arranged these paintings above the toilet in the masterbath.

If the two sinks aren't enough, the toilet has a sink too with a beautifully etched mirror.

I could have lived in this bathroom! It was as big as my first studio apartment!

I am going to interject some long narrations for those who like to read. For those who don't just skip to my sisters pictures

Saturday May 19 – Disney Fantasy

We drove the Oddaddy (our nickname for our Dad’s new Oddyssey) to Port Canaveral. We arrived at 10:30 and I was worried that we were too early for the parking garage. I read they don’t let people in until 11:00. But it was not the case and it was no problem to park before 11. We dropped our luggage with a porter who assured us our luggage would get to our rooms right away since we were in Concierge. I was excited to hear that since last year on the Magic we didn’t get ours until 5:00.

We headed through security and were a little worried about the sign that said no alcohol. I heard others asking about it and security said that the sign was wrong. Not sure why they have the sign when Disney does allow passengers to bring alcohol aboard.

Once through security we went to concierge check in where a cast member told us to have a seat because there were two families ahead of us. So we sat and waited patiently but then a family was escorted by us right to the desk by another cast member. A woman from another family who also was told to sit and wait went up with me to question the cast member. The cast member said that they have had a lot of complaints from concierge guests who have not been treated well. The other woman and I looked at each other and said ok but we are concierge also and we were here first. The cast member looked surprised and then told us to stand in line. Both of us would have stood in line to start with but we were told to sit and wait.

The check in seemed really disorganized and the cast members seemed to be judging who they thought were in concierge. I saw another family almost turned away from the concierge check in to wait in a very long line until one of the family members said “but we are in concierge”.

At any rate we had a good laugh when my dad innocently asked us “how did we get concierge” and my mom replied “we paid for it” : )

My sister and I both got silver Castaway Cay lanyards but I had to ask for them after I noticed others getting them at check in. Check in was not the best.

This was the first Disney cruise for my parents so they didn’t get the lanyards. My dad was a little jealous so I gave him mine anyway.

We sat for just a few minutes before they let us board. I am not sure what time it was – maybe 11:30-11:45. Upon entering we were directed toward the midship elevator but we knew we wanted to eat at Cabanas so my sister asked if we could use the Aft elevators instead and they said yes so we headed to Aft.

We got an excellent table by the windows in Cabanas and we waited a few minutes before the buffets were open. This gave us some time to check out the food. The buffet was good. I liked the meat from the carving station the best. Even though it was good, that was the only time during the cruise we ate at Cabanas.

A castmember told my dad "welcome back" - to which he responded with a blank stare. My sister quickly piped up that it was my lanyard that he was wearing and that it was actually his first time. So within the first hour on board he was already caught wearing the silver Castaway Cay lanyard : )

After lunch we went to concierge to meet with the concierge team. The lounge was packed with people so the room host showed us to our room instead. No suitcases yet, but it was still early. The rooms were beautiful. My sister and I were in a V category which is the equivalent of a family stateroom and my parents were in the adjoining one bedroom suite. I love the design of these rooms!

We then went back to the lounge and soon Andy from the concierge team was meeting with us. He is from Germany and we had him laughing at our family story of driving down the pedestrian way in Munich in the early 1990’s – oops!

My sister and I went to the Spa for the tour while my parents met with the wedding coordinator for their Vow Renewal. The spa was nice but I could tell right away that I liked the one on the Magic better. The Fantasy rainforest room just didn’t have the same quiet feel as the Magic. We still bought one day passes for St Thomas day, figuring a port day would be less crowded.

We then headed back to the room to change into our bathing suits. It was now 2:40 and we thought we would change before going back to the Spa for the raffle drawing at 3:00.

Still no suitcases. We could see other rooms had theirs, but ours were still missing. Luckily, we packed our swimsuits in our carry ons. We met our room host Vincenti who already seemed to be having a long day. We got to talking with him and missed the 3:00 raffle.

Oh well, we headed to Satellite falls for embarkment. We sat inside the falls looking out and had a great spot!

Our friends from Scotland who we met on the Magic last year spotted us there and we briefly got to catch up before we had to head back to our rooms to get ready for our evening.

Our suitcases were still not there. But soon arrived a little after 5 pm. I think even in concierge we have really bad luck with suitcases!

We changed for the show and dinner. The show that night was not the best. It was an overview of all the stuff you can do on the ship, The one thing I didn’t know about ahead of time was riding the aquaduck at night. Something my sister and I both added to our to do lists.

Concierge has a happy hour in the lounge at 7:30 so we had to take advantage of that : )

We then headed to dinner. My sister and I were running behind our parents, though I can’t remember why. When we arrived at our table in Animator’s Palate. Our Scottish friends were already there along with our parents. My mom asked me who the extra two seats were for but I didn’t know. I asked our server and she said that two more were coming. I was a little worried since the rest of us knew each other. We joked that it was the couple from the magic last year that we all didn’t like.

Well I was in for a big surprise. It was our friends, the sisters from Buffalo, who we met also on the Magic last year. I stood up and made a bit of a scene giving them both huge hugs! It was a surprise to our Scottish friend too but they had run into each other earlier at check in. The only one who knew was my sister since someone had to make the arrangements to link our reservations.

It was just like last year with our table full of laughs and closing down the place. We are always the last to leave.

The Crush show was cute. I was picked on and Crush asked me if I surfed. I replied that I surfed the Internet : )

After dinner our server, Lily , asked me if it was a surprise the two were coming. I told her how last year on the Magic, Disney matched my sister and I with the two sisters from buffalo and the couple from Scotland and one other couple for our table last year. Well, the 6 of us became fast friends and arranged to go on this cruise together. Although it was a surprise that the sisters joined us too.

I think we had an early night that night. I can’t remember if we went to check out the bars that night. We might have looked at them but headed back to our rooms early.

She reminded me that bag drop off at port was very easy and friendly. Our porter, Chris, was very helpful with all our bags, though I do blame him for cursing us with bags that didn't arrive until 5pm. His famous words that our luggage would be in our room before we were b/c we were concierge. We actually had him as our porter when we returned and were going through Customs and he remembered us and I teased him that he was to blame for our bags being so late! Chris was very nice though - I would recommend him if you see him.

On the other hand, my sister also brought up check in and I have to say that Wendi is a mess. Run the other way if you see her. She seems like a retired school marm - you know the type who judge everyone before they say a word. She was horrible. She was picking and choosing who to allow into the concierge check in area like it was her choice to make! Hello - anyone, ANYONE, can buy these state rooms. Free country, lady!

Actually most of the check in ladies seemed like they didn't belong working any longer - it was the start of the morning and they already seemed over worked and lost. Forgetful at best. With the exception of the check in grannies, the Cast Members were all steller.

My sister and I shared 12518. When we entered the room we found a fruit bowl as well. This is the ottoman/table/trunk that has wheels and can be moved infront of your couch or put to the side as we have it here.

The beds are higher than on the Magic and have very nice headboards that I thought also helped to keep noise muffled. The bed was comfortable to both of us - sister perfers a firmer mattress than I and we were both happy with this one. The sheets were nice and you have a choice of pillows though we stuck with the down pillows they had already on the bed. The duvey cover has a VERY sublte DCL logo pattern as do two of the pillow cases. During the day there is a foot runner/spread on the bed that is removed at turn down. The pillow is a teal blue and is flipped over at night to have the goodnight message appear. I believe the pillows are red in the other staterooms but I could be wrong. They sell the red pillow in one of the onboard gift shops (people were stealing them on the Dream a cast member said).

There is also a very comfortable yet modern looking chair along side the bed.

Opposite the couch is a long wall unit with a desk/vanity and drawers on either side. On one side is also a cabinet with two very deep and wide shelveds.

The other side hides the minifridge. I think this was a step up from the cold box on the Magic.

The top section has ice bucket, 2 wine glasses, 2 champagne, 2 tumblers, and the standard 4 glasses. There are cabinets on either side of the mirror and some additional shelf space.

There are two tvs in this stateroom. One huge one on the wall opposite the bed. This spoiled me!

Thanks for telling me about the tv in the cat. V, this is the first I've heard about that. Will be looking forward to that in Jan.

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Yes, it's HUGE. And really isn't in the way. It is a Samsung and the other smaller tv is LG. The Samsung has a frame that it sits in and the remote control and control for the blue ray dvd sits in there as well. The DVD is to the side.

Our DVD player was missing the first day and we asked the steward about it. He said that the family before us riped the front off of it and the unit had to be replaced. A little while later maintence came to fix it and I explained there was no DVD in the room. He looked in all the cabinets (which we had just begun to fill as we were unpacking our carry-ons). I joked with him that he couldn't fix what wasn't there. He left and at some point that evening we got a DVD player.

Not sure how someone could ripe the face off, though it does have a sleak design that makes the buttons hard to see.

How cute is this doorbell!!! Each stateroom had one on this deck and you need it to hear - knocking on these doors didn't really work.

If you don't like anything here, don't worry, I figured they must have changed out the food offering hourly - or nearly hourly! It seemed like there was always something different out. They kept it fresh. There are two sections on ice and always drinks (sodas and fruit juices) as well as a very high tech coffee maker.

Would love to see pictures of your balcony.......more conceirge offerings.....the conceirge deck and to hear about any excursions you did!
We are on deck 12 in Dec conceirge and are loving your report!
Also want to hear more about the psycho couple!! ha !
Debsx